For the past few years, protective equipment manufacturers have attempted to design hockey gloves that offer a lower resistance to the natural movement to which the hand is subject when handling a hockey stick.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,147 discloses a hockey glove which has a hand portion and a cuff portion joined together by a stretchable connecting portion. A protective strap-pad overlies the connecting portion to protect the player's wrist.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,243 discloses a hockey glove which has a cuff portion having a waist portion, such waist portion connects the cuff portion to a grip portion. A floating padded band covers the waist portion to protect the player's wrist.
While the gloves described in these patents may provide a certain amount of flexibility in the wrist area, they require a floating protective band to protect the flexible portion. By doing so, there are some areas near the edge of the hand portion and the cuff portion which are exposed to impact while the hand is bent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,739 discloses a hockey glove which has a wrist protection section comprising an outer cuff portion structure and pads defining an inner band which is adjustable inside such outer cuff portion. Thus, the inner band may be adjustable in order that the glove is maintained around the wrist more or less firmly according to the player's wish.
While this glove may offer a certain amount of flexibility of the wrist when the player bends his hand downward, it still limits the freedom of movement of the hand when the player bends his hand back.
In prior art gloves, there is no distinction between a right hand and a left hand glove. The design of prior art gloves is thus not based on the differences that exist between the natural position taken by the hand holding the extremity of a hockey stick and the natural position of the other hand. However, these two positions are generally substantially different.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry to provide a pair of sporting gloves that is better adapted to the different positions of each hand holding a sport stick, for instance a hockey stick.